Don’t punish our retailers

The fees generated from the single-use-bag ordinance that will go into effect on July 1 will not, as a recent letter to editor claimed, go to “provide the government a kickback.”

The ordinance requires businesses to charge customers 10 cents for any bag distributed at the point of sale. The fee is paid to and retained by the retailer, not the city.

It is my hope that people unhappy with the new ordinance will not take out their frustration on our local business owners, who have no legal choice but to comply with charging this fee, by shopping in other cities.

Whether you support these new regulations or not, I would encourage the members of our community to thank our businesses for the efforts they are taking to comply with this new ordinance and continue to support them and our local economy.